Portsmouth demolishing its history too rapidly

Monday

Dec 28, 2009 at 2:00 AM

Dec. 11 — To the Editor:

Dec. 11 — To the Editor:

Each time I read the Herald online, it tells me of yet another piece of Portsmouth's rich heritage falling to the wrecking ball. This time it was the second oldest waterfront building (Developer will raze historic waterfront building, Dec 5.).

The time before that, it was the former working waterfront building known as the Pier II. And the time before that, it was the old armory. And the time before that it was Eagle Photo, part of an old theatre. And New Hampshire's first state house still lies in pieces, stored in a truck trailer in Concord.

The rush to demolish and remove hasn't been limited to the port's buildings. New England's last steam-powered tugboat, the John Wannamaker, was harried and driven from a Portsmouth pier. The Sagamore, one of the world's last commercial sailing vessels, was scrapped in Prescott Park after the chattering classes complained of it as "an eyesore." The former Portsmouth tug Pegasus was sunk as a reef in Florida.

Not all news from the Seacoast, of course, is bad. A few bright rays shine against the storm of developers changing fair Portsmouth into something we hardly know. The Black Pearl lives on, and the oldest section of the Wentworth by the Sea hotel is a success in nearby New Castle, and there is renewed appreciation for neglected early black grave sites.

But overall, Portsmouth, New Hampshire's one seaport and centerpiece for American heritage, has done a poor job in recent years slowing the gentrification process down. The late Dorothy Vaughan, savior of Strawbery Banke, must be turning uncomfortably in her grave.

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